What Happens Here Stays Here
by SimplyBrilliant
Summary: When Severus Snape begins rescuing the same cat over and over again from various situations he realizes that it is more than a mere cat. Hermione Granger finds solace in a strange place and love from an unlikely source.
1. Chapter 1

Severus loomed over the grounds as he did every night, walking slowly, calculatingly, his eyes darting over the shadows and foliage that he came upon. He was taking his rounds as every other professor did nightly. Severus' shift followed Minerva's and it was nearly three o'clock in the morning before he finished every evening.

It was nearing that time and Severus had turned to head back toward the dungeons, hoping to meet Filch who took the latest shift being that the poor man had wretched insomnia and was prone to fits of unrest for weeks to months at a time. Perhaps Filch would be ready early, Severus thought, and he could turn in for the night. He had a class at eight o'clock sharp that morning.

As he rounded the corner of a tree and began the trek toward the large, oaken doors at the front hall of the school, Severus heard a noise that sounded like a sharp scratching. It was brisk and nearly inaudible. He strained to hear and turned back around after a few moments, following the noise as quietly yet quickly as possible.

The scratching grew louder until Severus could clearly see where it was coming from. There was a small, bushy, tawny cat scratching maniacally at the wooden base of a tiny cage. Severus didn't really care for animals but he couldn't quite understand why someone would trap the poor cat in a domicile where it could barely lie down or turn around.

He knelt down and the cat immediately stopped its' scratching. She looked up at Severus with such plea he could hardly stand it. Feeling like a blubbering fool for actually giving a rat's ass about the cat, Severus mumbled incoherently to himself as he fiddled with the lock. When he realized it was impossible to release the cat on his own, he pulled his wand from his robes and whispered, " _Alohamora,"_ and watched as the lock dissipated and the cat was freed from its' confines.

The cat came clamoring out of the cage as fast as she could and shook like a dog, her fur puffing out even more. She looked up to Severus as if to say thanks and then took off toward the castle at an alarming pace.

Severus had a strange feeling that the cat was more than just a cat, and so he followed it as best as he could, but nearly lost it when entering the castle. It jetted around corners, leapt upon banisters, and tucked into shadows trying to lose Severus. Yes, this was more than a cat indeed.

Severus was determined to catch the student that he knew must have been an animagus and punish them for at least a week for one, being stupid enough to get locked up in a cage as a cat, and two being out after curfew and having the distinct displeasure of meeting one Severus Snape.

He had nearly caught up with the cat when all of a sudden it vanished. Severus blinked into the darkness of the Transfiguration classroom in dismay, lifting desks and kicking chairs in anger. Bullocks, he thought. He couldn't believe he'd let it get away. It must have snuck out behind him as he was turning the classroom upside down in search, he thought. Yes, must have been.

Severus angrily magicked the room back to its original form and took off in a huff toward the dungeons.


	2. Chapter 2

Hermione Granger groggily stumbled down the stairs toward the Potions classroom at precisely eight fifteen in the morning. She knew that she was late however she couldn't seem to make herself care. If it were any other class Hermione would have been running despite how tired and sore she was. As soon as she made it to said teacher she would have begged for mercy and then punished herself by eliminating reading time later on that afternoon.

Severus Snape was an asshole. Plain and simple, there was no other way to describe the man, and Hermione wasn't about to try. She knew as soon as she walked into the dungeons he would sense her presence no matter how sneakily she entered and sat in the back. He would then proceed to humiliate her ten different ways to Sunday and she would be laughed at by every Slytherin in the room which as a Seventh year student meant every other student besides _Hermione._

Sometimes it was aggravating to be the only non-Slytherin in the room, especially considering no one wanted to be her partner for potions or bookwork, but Hermione made it work as she always did. Education always came over socialization any day, and Hermione would have told any one of those Slytherins that any day of the week.

Hermione neared Snape's door and her stomach turned. She desperately wanted to go back to bed and play sick but she knew she needed the class time. Every credit counted. Hermione opened up the door and to her dismay it creaked so loudly that it echoed four classrooms down. She cringed as Severus lifted his head from his desk and gave her the signature snare she'd been dreading since first year.

She crept to her desk, accidentally tripping over Draco's satchel and going headfirst into Pansy. The ugly girl threw Hermione off of her and she fell backward on her ass on the concrete floor. The entire room erupted in laughter. Hermione was utterly mortified.

"Now that the circus has ended could we get back to our text," Severus drawled, standing from his desk and walking slowly toward Hermione. He extended his hand to her and Hermione stared at it like an idiot for a moment before taking it and allowing him to haul her up to her feet. Severus turned and walked back to his desk, no insults, no injury.

Hermione was stunned. She brushed herself off in a daze and took a seat at the only empty one left next to a plump girl named Fawn and opened her book to the assigned page 583. She felt the redness leaving her cheeks but she was still in shock over Snape's behavior.

Severus stared at Hermione for a few moments before continuing grading papers. He knew for sure now who the cat had been. Hermione seemed tired and distraught and he knew that she was never late for a class. She also seemed stiff and achy in her movements. He didn't want to punish the girl. He wanted to follow her. Call it boredom, but Severus wanted to find out why she'd been in the cage and who had done it.

Classes dragged by ridiculously slow that day. Hermione finally ended up in an armchair in the library at eleven o'clock that night curled up with one of her favorite books. Even though she kept nodding off she was determined to finish her chapter before she went to bed. After all, curfew was one o'clock for seventh years so that they could finish their studies in the library or grab a rare meal in the Great Hall late at night.

Severus had just started his rounds and was walking around the lower levels trying to decide where he might find Hermione. Perhaps she would be in the library, he pondered. Walking briskly up the stairs he finally made it to the great room that housed Hogwarts favorite novels and periodicals along with every other type of book or paper known to man. Severus entered and immediately spotted Hermione yet again in a cage in her cat form yet this time she was fast asleep. The pranksters must have just gotten to her, he thought.

Severus released the lock and latch and removed the sleeping cat carefully, carrying it downstairs to the dungeons. Once he reached his private quarters he whispered the password and entered, setting the Hermione-cat down on his couch while he entered his bedroom to change clothing. He emerged about thirty minutes later after a shower and shave in a dark blue t-shirt and a pair of blue plaid pajama bottoms, something no one had _ever_ caught Severus Snape in.

He sat in the armchair next to the couch, staring at the sleeping cat and beginning to wonder if it was just an unlucky cat that had been the object of a bored third year's magical experimentation. It wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. It was purring softly as it slept, unmoving. Severus sighed heavily and leaned back, deciding to close his eyes until something happened.

Hours passed by and dawn approached. Hermione finally opened her eyes, blinking the sleep away. She stretched and yawned, arching her back and enjoying the warm fuzziness that was the effect of a good night's rest. Suddenly she realized that she was naked. She blinked in the early morning darkness and came to another realization. She was sitting very close to a sleeping man in an armchair.

Hermione's heart spiked into her throat and she leapt up as quietly as possible and slipped toward the wall behind her, but tripped over the lamp beside the couch she'd been sleeping on and fell backward yet again on her ass.

Severus woke with a start, jerking his head up abruptly which caused a ridiculously painful crook in his neck. He hissed in agony and blinked in the darkness, his eyes widening when he saw a very inappropriate angle of one Hermione Jane Granger.

"Merlin!" Severus cried out, jerking his t-shirt over his head and tossing it her way before spinning around and covering his eyes.

"Well, I don't look that bad naked!" Hermione joked, trying to lighten the mood as her cheeks beamed a brilliant red. She pulled the t-shirt over her head gratefully and stood, tugging it down as low as she could. Thankfully it covered her lady-parts below as well as the ones above.

"This isn't the time for your wit, Miss Granger," Severus snarled, "Are you decent, for Christ's sake?"

"I wasn't aware you were a religious man, Professor," Hermione smirked, "Yes, I am."

Severus turned around slowly and collapsed in his armchair as if he'd just run a marathon, "What are you doing naked in my parlor at this ungodly hour of the morning?"

Hermione gawked at him, tugging the t-shirt down a bit more, "I was hoping you would be able to tell me the same thing!"

"I arrived here around two o'clock this morning with a tawny cat with ridiculous amounts of fluff all over its' body. I rested it right there on that couch and I showered, shaved, changed into my night clothes and sat here in my chair to read. When I awoke the cat was gone and you were sprawled out nude in my floor. So I am assuming you are the cat I keep rescuing from its confines," Severus smirked at her.

Hermione's cheeks flooded red and her eyes darted around awkwardly as she sat down carefully on the couch, knowing she was caught. Students were not supposed to be in their animagus forms at school unless given direct permission from the headmaster. Being that Minerva hadn't allowed it, Hermione could be in serious trouble.

"It isn't my fault," Hermione's eyes were pleading. She chewed her lower lip in anxiousness, "Malfoy and his crew keep catching me and forcing me into animagus form so they can cage me. It's been going on for two months now. The only time it doesn't happen is if I sleep in the shower. They cannot go in there," Hermione looked as if she were about to cry, "But my back hurts from sleeping there and I keep falling asleep in random places because I am so tired from trying to stay up all night."

Severus felt pity for the girl. She was obviously being tormented and he knew there was nothing he could do for her but tell Minerva and allow Hermione to face the consequences for illegal animagus training. There was another option that was looming at the forefront of his mind, however.

"You are welcome to sleep here on this couch as often as you wish. With clothes on, please," Severus added with a bit of color rushing to his face, "That way they cannot get to you as they can in your dormitory and you don't have to sleep in the showers any longer."

Hermione blinked back tears, "Professor, you hate me. Why would you allow me to sleep here?"

"I do not hate you, Miss Granger. I simply loathe parts of your personality," he said tactfully, "Now, I will fetch a pair of pajama pants for you to wear and you can sleep right there for the rest of the night. I have already rescued you twice this week and I need to sleep as well. So let's play it safe."

Hermione nodded her agreement and her thanks and sat waiting for him to return. He handed her the clothing promised and a pillow and blanket from his own bed and then he turned to head to his room, "Sleep well. I'm going to wake you when I head to class so that perhaps you can manage to be on time this morning. You have no excuse anymore for being late to my class, Miss Granger."

Severus shut the door to his bedroom and chuckled to himself. Students and their pranks, he thought, would be the end of him. As he climbed into bed and doubled the sheet, missing his blanket but knowing it was being put to good use this night, he couldn't help but think of the girl. He tried to bat it out of his head but his thoughts kept flittering back to her.


	3. Chapter 3

Severus sat at his desk the next morning in a strange mood. He was feeling torn but between what two emotions he did not know. He was simply torn. He watched as the students filtered into the room slowly and he waited for her, waited to see her, and finally she entered in her typical dress; messy hair, school uniform, and black high heels. She took a seat two tables back from his desk and smiled discretely at him before pulling her text from her satchel.

Severus felt a strange chill run up his spine at that smile. His mind immediately went back to the night before when he discovered her on the floor and… No. He stopped himself. This was his student and he was not going to think that way. There was no way he could take advantage of that. She needed help and he was going to provide it. He was going to continue to be the cold and heartless professor that she knew. Maybe a little less heartless, and a tad less cold, he thought.

Classes ended that day later than usual and Severus made sure to catch Hermione before she went to the Great Hall for dinner to tell her his password so she'd be able to get in. He had a small library there so he had strongly suggested she complete her studies at his kitchenette table rather than in the library upstairs. Hermione had agreed and they'd parted and Severus hadn't stopped thinking about the girl since.

At about nine o'clock Severus had finally finished his last detention of the day and he headed back to his rooms. He muttered the password and slipped inside, hanging his outer robes. Hermione was curled up in his armchair reading some book. Severus watched as she looked up at him and gave a friendly, small smile. He returned it and walked past her into his bedroom, shutting his door. He sat on the end of his bed for a moment. He didn't know what he was going to do. This feeling in his chest was unbearable. He'd just have to ignore it.

Severus emerged about ten minutes later and to his amazement Hermione had moved from the armchair to the couch for Severus. He raised his eyebrows in wonder as he took a seat in his favorite chair and peered over at her book. She was reading a selection from his novels. He had figured as much. He had a small book collection of only Muggle novels. Somehow they were more interesting to him than wizarding novels.

Hermione was thoroughly engrossed and he wondered for a moment if she had even really noticed that he was there. After about five minutes Hermione looked up from her book and folded it in her lap, "How were classes today?"

Severus nodded his head, "Fine, and you?"

"Boring," Hermione sighed heavily, rolling her eyes. She set the book beside her on the couch. She was snuggled up under his blanket and wearing his t-shirt from the night before which told him either she liked wearing it or she hadn't gone to retrieve her clothing from her dormitory. Wait… She had. She was wearing her uniform this morning. Severus felt a swelling in his chest and a lump in his throat.

"Classes can, erm, be boring," Severus agreed a little shakily. He fiddled with the bottom of his shirt for a moment before smoothing out the legs of his trousers.

Hermione smirked. He was nervous around her. She had never seen the professor in this state and in a way it was rather amusing. She did feel sorry for him, but she was glad for once he was the one squirming in her presence instead of the other way around. Surprisingly she felt comfortable here; more so than she had in months anywhere else.

Severus stood, clearing his throat, and walking over to the bookcases against the far wall by the door, "I don't have rounds tonight so if you'd like I have a few videos. I tend to play one or two on the weekends when there isn't much else to do."

Hermione was in shock. She hadn't watched a movie while at school ever, so hearing that it was a possibility boggled her mind. She jumped up from the couch and walked quickly over to the bookcase in his pajamas, standing beside him as he pulled the plastic tote down from the top that housed his DVD collection. Most of them were movies Hermione had never heard of but she saw one that she'd been dying to see and hadn't gotten the chance to: The Grudge.

She plucked it from the box and nearly skipped back to the couch, turning it over in her hands to read the back of it as Severus pulled out his television and DVD player. He set everything up, somehow having rigged it to a car battery, and then coaxed the DVD from her hands with a smirk so he could insert it in the DVD player. He excused himself for a few minutes while it went through commercials and changed into pajamas, his mind racing as he did so.

For the first time in at least a decade there was a female sitting on his couch in his pajamas, curled up under his blanket and she was his student. In any other circumstance Severus would have jumped at the opportunity to bed a girl as beautiful as Hermione Granger, but he couldn't cross that line. There was no way.

He emerged from his bedroom with another pillow and sat beside Hermione on the couch so he could see the TV, grabbed the remote, and pressed play. He set his pillow in his lap and propped his feet up on the coffee table.

Hermione grinned like a little girl, so excited to finally see this movie. She handed him some blanket, watching as he threw it over his legs, and leaned back, curling her legs under her.

Severus awoke four hours later to the title screen of the DVD. He clicked the remote at the TV, successfully turning off the blaring light and started to stand up before he realized there was a weight in his lap. He looked down to see his pillow in his lap at Hermione's head atop his pillow. He went beet red and opened his mouth several times as if he was going to speak. He had nothing to say. He couldn't wake her.

He somehow slipped another pillow under his heels on the coffee table and leaned back, closing his eyes. His heart was pounding and thoughts racing through his head. He knew he'd have a hard time going back to sleep but in a way he didn't mind.


	4. Chapter 4

As the light flooded into the room that morning, Hermione blinked in protest, groaning quietly. She turned her head the other way and burrowed it into the couch, trying her hardest to fall back asleep. The couch was warm. So warm. And it was moving. Hermione frowned in confusion and opened her eyes, looking up. She realized in horror that she was in Severus' lap. Thankfully there was a pillow under her head, she thought. She sat up slowly and stretched, her bones popping and cracking. She knew Severus would be stiff as a board being in the position he was in.

She snuck off to the bathroom to shower and change, quietly shutting his bedroom door so she wouldn't wake him. She walked into the bathroom and shut the door, stripping down and tossing the pajamas in the hamper for the house elves to take. Climbing into the shower, she turned the water on and sighed as it poured down over her body.

Severus had been pretending to sleep for the past six hours, so when Hermione had shut the door to his bedroom he sat up, groaning and stretching trying to unkink his entire body. He walked stiffly and tiredly into his bedroom and collapsed in his bed, pulling the sheet up over his body and burrowing his head in the pillows. He closed the curtains with a flick of his wand and relaxed, feeling his body loosen.

About fifteen minutes later Hermione crept into the dark bedroom in a towel, padding across the room to a duffel bag in the corner. She squatted down and dug through it in the darkness, confused because she could have sworn it was bright as day when she'd entered the room. She pulled out a pair of panties and a bra as well as a t-shirt and jeans. It was Saturday. No classes meant she could hide away all day if she wanted to.

Hermione dropped the towel and pulled on her panties and reached for her bra which she'd set on the edge of the bed. She frowned at it and tossed it at the duffel bag, barely missing it. She pulled her t-shirt on and climbed in the bed, deciding to catch a little bit of sleep while she could. After all, Severus was on the couch so he wouldn't mind, right?

She pulled the sheet up over her rear since she'd decided to sleep in a t-shirt and boyshorts and closed her eyes, groaning at the comforting softness of the mattress, "Merlin, I love this bed."

Severus' eyes popped open as she spoke and he sat up, "It appears we have both decided to climb into bed."

Hermione squealed, jumping out of the bed, "Merlin! You scared the pants off of me!"

"I can see that," Severus purred, a smirk sliding upon his lips. He couldn't help himself.

Hermione went beet red, "Oh, I'm quite sure mine isn't the only ass you've seen."

"It is, however, the most perfect," Severus shot back at her.

Hermione didn't know what to say. She was out of sarcastic comments to spew at him. She stood there for a moment before leaving the room rather quickly. Severus thought she wasn't coming back, however he saw that he was mistaken within seconds when she returned with pillows and his blanket. She spread it over the bed and climbed back in, lying down on her stomach.

"We are both adults and we are both tired. I think we can handle sleeping in the same bed," she spat.

Severus smirked at her, his heart racing and to his dismay his trousers tightening, "Yes, I think we can handle it."

Hermione closed her eyes, turning her head away from him. Her heart was pounding in her chest. This was the first time she'd ever been in bed with a man, and that man was her professor. She didn't know what to do with herself.

She'd been fighting the same feelings Severus had been fighting for days, telling herself that it was ridiculous and wrong, but she couldn't seem to convince herself of that no matter how hard she tried.

They both lay there for at least an hour unmoving and not speaking. Severus finally opened his mouth, needing to break the silence, "What happens in this room doesn't leave this room. I hope you are aware of that."

Hermione heard his words and took them in, blinking in the darkness. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard, not responding to him in any way. A few minutes passed and with shakiness she turned toward him, gazing into his eyes, "What do you mean by that?"

Severus stared back at her, "I mean exactly what I say, Miss Granger. What happens in this room doesn't leave it," he purred in his silky tone. It was the same voice he used on a daily basis to insult Hermione. Hermione was amazed to find that it sent shockwaves down her spine and between her legs.

She stared at him. She didn't know what to say. She chewed on her lip nervously, wanting desperately to do something, anything, but unaware of what would happen and unwilling to overlook the taboo. She was shy and she was virginal. Severus found this to be one of the most enticing parts of Hermione.

He suddenly pounced on top of her, rolling her on her back and trapping her hands under his on either side of her head. He stared down at her, his long black locks falling like a curtain on the side of her face. Hermione gasped in reaction, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she gazed up at him in wonderment.

"W-what are you doing?" Hermione asked, her voice sounding so little and pitiful as it echoed in her ears.

Severus looked like a predator as he gazed down at her, unmoving, perched overtop of her, "I'm doing what I've been wanting to do for days," his voice was low and silky, "I'm taking you."

Hermione swallowed hard, chewing her lip. She was aching between her legs, her panties completely soaked and her nipples hard peaks. Her body was responding to him in such a fashion that she was unfamiliar with. She didn't know what to do, so she decided she would follow his lead.

Severus stared at her for a moment before lowering his head slowly, meeting her lips with his own. He kissed her passionately, his tongue sliding between her lips and meeting hers. They danced for a few moments in this beautiful kiss, Severus hardening and Hermione bucking up against him without even realizing what she was doing. It wasn't long before he was tearing at her panties with one hand, still holding her left hand down with the other.

He somehow managed to get them off and he slid inside of her with one smooth stroke, grunting at her tightness. He then realized as he was completely sheathed inside of her that she was a virgin. He paused for a moment, staring at the top of her head before he began to rock his hips, thrusting into her.

Hermione gasped loudly as he took her virginity, his large endowment filling her to bursting. She felt so incredibly full. As he began to move, however, the uncomfortable fullness turned to electricity as he slid in and out of her slowly, and she found herself meeting his thrusts. Soon he was pounding into her in an animalistic manner and she was moaning out his name with every thrust.

It didn't take long for her to feel a building of what felt almost like a sneeze… It was so intense and felt so damned good that when it exploded she jerked and arched and screamed out in pleasure. Severus came right along with her, thrusting hard into her a final time as he shot his seed deep within her womb.

They stayed in this position for a while, not speaking, just panting and recovering. Finally, Severus rolled over on the bed on his back, staring at the ceiling silently. He stayed this way for a few minutes before climbing out of the bed and pulling on his pants.

Hermione watched him silently, not really sure what to say. Her heart was pounding and she felt almost as if he was angry with her, but she wasn't sure why. She watched him dress and leave the room as quickly as his feet would carry him, and that would be the last time she saw him for the rest of the day.


End file.
